Armenian Cucumbers and Peanuts

The world comes to my doorstep through international egg customers. I love it, altho communicating beyond "Hello, how are you?" can get muddled sometimes. That's when a smile and nod say all you need to say.

This winter, I asked each customer to share seeds from their home-country favorites. Putting the seed in the dirt, watering and watching them grow has been the easy part. I didn't anticipate how tricky it would be to know when to harvest. I happily presented my Slavik friend with the first fruit of her contribution, to which she wrinkled up her nose and said, "Too big! Too big!" These "yard-long" cucumbers are actually best if harvested before they get a yard long, according to my customer. Altho they taste just like our Southern varieties, they don't turn dark green, their skin is never peeled before eating and they are naturally burpless.

My peanut plants are doing well. I researched on the internet to figure out when to harvest and learned the most amazing thing. Peanuts are not root crops as I have always believed ... the blossoms send shoots down into the ground on which the peanut actually grows. After reading this, I headed straight out to the garden to see for myself. Sure enough, the blossoms have brown spikes reaching down, some long enough for their ends to be embedded in the soil. I hope you can see them in this picture. Now I need to finish the article and learn when peanuts ripen and are ready to harvest. Jordana shared that she loves peanuts because of the way they return nitrogen to the soil ... whatever she plants after the peanuts thrives.

I am learning so much. Sometimes I wish I had selected a different major in college so I wouldn't be such a late bloomer (bad pun!). However, much of the joy is in the timely discovery of these morsels of knowledge. O, the wonder of creation!